Re: [Usability] Double-click [in notification area]?

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004, John Spray wrote:

> Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 23:55:34 +0100
> From: John Spray <jcs116 york ac uk>
> To: Usability <usability gnome org>
> Subject: Re: [Usability] Double-click [in notification area]?
>
> On Mon, 2004-08-30 at 23:32, Curtis Hovey wrote:
> > Steel the middle button for select.  Let left button drag the select for
> > the default option.  Use middle button drag for option actions.
>
> There are many two button mice in circulation.  No critical
> functionality can be bound to button 2.  The present situation suits the

There are also laptops with only two buttons.  Correct me if I'm wrong but
I think 3 buttons laptops are extremely rare.

Accessiblity devices, Pen and Tablet interfaces and things like
clickers for presentations have only a single button so we definately
cannot start doing anything essential with 2nd or 3rd buttons.

> > PS.  We create the official GNOME mouse with thumb button, and keyboard
> > with system keys.  We sell the essential gear are store.gnome.org and
> > subsidize a costly test to prove this is the right decision.

> Actually, this would be damn cool ;-)  I'd certainly think about buying
> gnome-branded/optimised input devices.  Doubt it's a practical idea
> though.

While I wouldn't go for a mouse with an extra thumb button (2 buttons
and a wheel will do nicely thanks) Microsoft did rather well out of
rebranding Logitech mice.  If someone with a bit of business and marketing
expertise understood how and why it worked (I expect bundling and
leveraging of their existing sales channels would have had a lot to do
with it) it might actaully turn out to be a workable idea.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan
http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/